


Oil Trip

by Helenadorf



Series: Mega Man: Season 3 [1]
Category: Mega Man (Cartoon 1994)
Genre: Gen, Ruby-Spears Cartoon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 07:27:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9711032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Helenadorf/pseuds/Helenadorf
Summary: Fresh from yet another victory against the nefarious Dr. Wily, Mega Man returns home in time to meet the mysterious Oil Man-- a robot who claims to need help finding parts for his not-yet-built younger brother. Though initially distrustful, Mega Man decides to help him, at the suggestion of his sister Roll. Meanwhile, at Skull Fortress, the frustrated robots of Dr. Wily's army are getting fed-up with constant defeats and decide to pin the blame on Proto Man. Convinced he must defeat his brother once and for all, Proto Man sets off to find him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! As you can gather, this is an "episode 28" of sorts for the Ruby-Spears Mega Man cartoon. Because I'm basically writing my own episode, I will be trying my best to keep to the original spirit and tone of the show. If you're not a fan of it, this is likely not the fic for you. Also keep in mind that with exception to only a few minor details, the lore of this fic is true to the show's lore rather than game lore. Please don't comment with anything rude regarding the show, nor post mindless hate towards the fic. Writing crit is always welcome! Also, special thanks to my friend Boo for being my editor. You're the best.
> 
> All that said, enjoy!

**Chapter 1: A Call For Help**

                “Ice Man, Air Man, get that Mega-twerp before he ruins my scheme! AGAIN!”

                Another day, another battle with the evil Dr. Wily. The mad scientist was shouting orders from his hovercraft, eyes occasionally darting to the side towards a nearby warehouse and looking for an opening to sneak by Mega Man. Ice Man and Air Man were currently standing, with Mega Man having just knocked down the usual trio of Proto Man, Cut Man and Guts Man. Rush had been sent back to Light Labs to get Roll.

                Mega Man aimed his buster again at the approaching robots. Air Man shoved Ice Man to the ground beside him so he could strike first. He should have simply shot first—Mega Man opened fire and the resulting blast threw Air Man several feet back. Ice Man recovered and shot his Ice Slasher at the hero. Behind them, Proto Man, Cut Man and Guts Man were recovering from their earlier knock-downs. Mega Man rolled to the left. He fired twice at Ice Man before turning his buster to the others. Cut Man shot his Rolling Cutter at him, only for the attack to be caught by a vacuum suction. He looked over to see Roll having caught it, and the girl gave him only a cocky grin before firing it right back at him. He squawked, raising his arms hastily to shield himself from the Rolling Cutter and crying out in pain when it got caught on them.

                “Don’t tell me you were gonna have all the fun to yourself, Mega!” she chirped.

                “I was wondering when you’d get here, sis!” he replied. “Don’t worry—you’ll get plenty of chance to kick some ro- _butt_ for yourself.”

                The two twins went back-to-back, Roll facing Proto Man and Guts Man—Cut Man was still trying to remove his own weapon from his arms, damaging himself further in the process. Rock faced Ice Man and Air Man, who were getting back up and subtly glaring at each other. Roll could easily handle Guts Man, Mega Man knew. His sister was a strong girl. Proto Man, he wasn’t so sure about—but then again, she and their estranged elder sibling had never really fought before. She’d probably be fine. Meanwhile, he knew Ice Man and Air Man would be no trouble. Those two spent so much time arguing with each other instead of fighting him, it was like bowling with no gutters. He had enough energy to finish the fight—he could finish the two of them off, help Roll take down Proto Man, and then have enough time to stop Wily.

                He opened his mouth to tell Roll this plan, only to remember that she was already on board. Nobody could read a mind like a twin sister, after all.

                “Ready to _roll_?” she asked.

                “Let’s take down some scum-bots!”

                They lunged into their respective battles. Mega Man threw a punch and smacked Ice Man’s goggles, shattering them and knocking him down. He quickly knelt down and copied the Ice Slasher. A whirring fan caught his audio receptors as Air Man prepared to attack for himself. Preparing the new weapon, Mega Man aimed and fired. The blast of ice froze Air Man’s fan completely still, leaving him open and defenseless.

                “Sorry, Air Man,” Mega Man said. “You won’t be _blowing me away_ this time!”

                He switched back to his usual weapon and opened fire, knocking Air Man down for the count. As Ice Man tried again to get up behind him, Mega Man kicked him back down with a grin. With Wily’s bad bots of the week defeated, he turned his attention to his sister.

                Guts Man was charging at her, ready to grab her. Roll stood ready. As he got close, she took advantage of his speed and leveraged him over her head, throwing him down to the ground before he could process what was going on. Cut Man finally freed himself from his own Rolling Cutter and, seeing Roll switch to a frying pan to beat down his brother, launched it at her. It sliced the pan right off its handle—she let out a gasp.

                “Didn’t mean to _cut_ you off! Hehe, hehe…” Cut Man cackled. “Oh, wait—yes I did!”

                She grit her teeth, switching to her spatula. She turned her back on Guts Man for the moment, deflecting Rolling Cutters as they were shot at her. Cut Man prepared to fight her in close-range only for her to grab his wrist and toss him at Guts Man as he got up, knocking them both down. Ice Slasher attacks came from the left and froze the both of them to the ground—Roll looked over and shared a smile with her brother—

                Only for the other brother to swoop in and swing his leg at her ankles, tripping her in place.

                “Sorry, sis!” Proto Man said. “But it ‘ain’t over just yet.”

                Mega Man lifted his buster again, aiming it at Proto Man. As the red rebel prepared to fight for himself, Roll returned the favour and tripped him the same way he had her, scrambling to her feet—meanwhile, loud noises were coming from the warehouse. They’d forgotten about Wily!

                “Uh oh,” Mega Man muttered. Proto Man opened his mouth to gloat, only for Roll to return the favour and trip him the same way he had her.

“I’ll take care of Wily,” she said, “Rush is waiting inside. We’ll get him before he can finish setting up his newest doomsday laser!” She scrambled to her feet and bolted for the back of the warehouse, preparing her vacuum—leaving her brothers to fight. Mega Man wanted to protest, that _he_ stop the madman. Remembering himself (and more importantly, remembering what his sister was capable of), he decided against it and turned his attention back to Proto Man.

                He locked gazes with those black shades, as if he were looking to make real contact with the eyes behind the dark glass. He was never able to.

                “Don’t you ever get tired of working for Wily, Proto Man?” Mega Man asked. “His plans are all the same. He goes after something big and important, I come in and stop you guys before he can succeed. I know I’m getting tired of kicking your can again and again.”

                “Aww, does it make you _sad_ to have to hurt your big brother?” Proto Man taunted. Mega Man couldn’t help but silently clench his teeth in frustration. “Heh! You know I’m not meant to be a goody-goody ‘bot like you are, Mega-bro. I just don’t have it in me.”

                “You do! Of course you have it in you. You said yourself we’re built from the same blueprints, so whatever compels me to do good is in you, too! I know it is!”

                “And whatever’s compelling me to do bad is in you, too,” Proto Man retorted. “If you’re so tired of fighting me, why don’t you join me? It’s not so bad on this side, and besides, it’ll be a lot more interesting than having to stop us again and again. It’s the only way to stop fighting.”

                “Stop offering, because it’s _not_ happening!”

                His brother seemed to scowl, pausing for a moment longer. He made a disappointed click of the tongue before he made the first move, firing several shots which missed. One grazed the left side of Mega Man’s head. Mega Man threw a punch. Proto Man dodged it. He returned with a kick and opened fire again. Mega Man met the plasma with shots of his own. He took advantage of the resulting explosions and smoke to rush at his brother. His fist nailed him in the gut, then he brought his elbow down on Proto Man’s back. The elder dropped to the floor, rolled over, and jumped back to his feet. He caught Mega Man’s next punch, kneeing him once in the stomach and again in the face when he doubled over.

                “C’mon, bro!” Proto Man taunted, throwing a few more punches before kicking and knocking Mega Man several feet back. “You’re boring me here! I could win this fight in my sleep!”

                He aimed his buster to fire, smirking. If he’d opened fire right away, he would have won. Proto Man waited just one second too long—

                And Mega Man fired in return, shooting Proto Man’s buster directly. Something important was knocked out, and he could not fire. In the window of shock, Mega Man lunged forward and shot his brother point-blank in the chest, throwing him across the field into a tree and leaving him offline.

                “Sleep tight,” said Mega Man.

                From the warehouse, Rush was barking. Dr. Wily was chased out, missing more hair than usual and with his lab coat in tatters. “Guts Man! Quit laying around and get everyone out of here!”

                Guts Man was struggling to move his arms under the restraint of the solid ice that had trapped him and Cut Man. “I’m tryin’!”

                “Oh, no.” Mega Man pointed his buster at the fleeing Dr. Wily. “You’re not getting away that easy!”

                Cut Man, still frozen on top of Guts Man’s chest, launched a Rolling Cutter at Mega Man and knocked his arm out to the side. The shot ended up hitting the warehouse, destroying a section of wall and leaving smoke in its wake. Guts Man broke free of the ice at last, grabbing his brother, the offline Proto Man and running over to nudge Air Man and Ice Man conscious. When Mega Man went to stop him, a simple swing of the arm was all it took to prevent the blue bomber from getting too close before the others got up.

                Dr. Wily, having made it to his hovercraft, brought it into the air. His robots rushed into the open door in the back of the vehicle before it flew off, a certain German accent calling out, “I’ll get you next time, Mega-brat!”

                “Crud,” Mega Man muttered. He watched his enemy get away yet again as his sister and dog appeared to either side of him, the former carrying a now-disabled laser crystal.

                “Don’t worry about it, Mega,” Roll said. “You know Dr. Wily’s running out of ideas—and out of robots, too. I think this is the third time he’s had to use Ice Man and Air Man this past month.”

                “I would hope he’s running out of parts and funds by now,” her brother replied. “He’s getting desperate. That better be the last time I see him around for a while.”

                Roll nodded. “I hear ya. C’mon, let’s get back home. Dr. Light’s gonna be waiting to return this crystal to Brain Bot.”

                Rush bounced around the two for a moment before turning into his fly mode. Once the twins were on board, they flew off into the distance. Unnoticed, a figure in the shadows of the warehouse watched them leave with crossed arms and leaning against the doorframe.

                “You really are somethin’, ‘ain’tcha, Mega Man?” the figure muttered, pulling a red scarf over their face. They snuck away from the scene, leaving traces of oil in their path.

 

 

                Light Labs was a humble home. Quiet, so long as Dr. Wily wasn’t out and about. It was both a place to rest and a place to work. Mega Man always liked it better than having to go out to fight, honestly— being the hero was great and all, but even Superman got to sit back and just be Clark Kent once in a while. He was the first to enter and see Dr. Light at his computer, turning his chair to face him and Roll as they arrived. He greeted them with a smile and walked over to them.

                “How did it go, Mega?” he asked.

                “One hyperenhancement crystal, back where it belongs!” Mega Man said. “Wily was going to use it to power his machine, just like you thought.”

                “And the machine itself?”

                “I took care of it,” Roll chirped proudly.

                “Excellent work, both of you.” He put his hands on their shoulders. “I am truly happy to have children that work so well together as you two do.”

                Rush barked.

                “You’re wonderful too, Rush.”

                The twins laughed light-heartedly. They were interrupted by a knock on the door.

                Despite Mega Man and Roll being international heroes and Dr. Light being the inventor of modern robotics, they didn’t often get visitors. If they were needed, they were called over the phone or signaled. They were a fair distance from the city, and many of their friends were officials or professors at the local university. Busy people. Mega Man was the first to break away to answer the door, visibly curious.

                When he opened it, a robot he’d never seen before stood at the entrance. The robot’s head and armour were black with a light-grey bodysuit. The robot’s left arm was a shooter. A red scarf covered his mouth and gently waved behind him in the wind. Dark eyes greeted Mega Man, and the robot seemed to smile.

                “It’s an honour t’ meet’cha,” the robot said. “I didn’t expect Mega Man himself to answer the door! My name’s Oil Man. Mind if I come in?”

                “Uh—“ Mega Man hesitated, and turned to Dr. Light. “Doc, were we expecting an ‘Oil Man’?”

                Dr. Light pondered for a moment. “No, but I see no reason to distrust him.”

                The hero turned back to the stranger at his door. “Alright, you can come in.”

                Oil Man nodded in thanks, walking into the lab as Mega Man stepped aside for him. He couldn’t help but scan the robot. Not necessarily out of distrust, but out of curiosity. A long time ago, other roboticists had built robot masters—but none had done so in years, thanks to Dr. Wily capturing and reprogramming most of them to do his bidding. Only Mega Man, Roll, Brain Bot and the regular robots around the world were where they were supposed to be. It was possible in Dr. Wily’s incompetent redundancy someone had been brave enough to try again, but…

                “Y’got a really nice place,” Oil Man said. He turned to Roll, extending a hand to her. “Roll, right? Y’look lovely.”

                “Ah, thank you?” Though uncertain, she took Oil Man’s hand—and was surprised to see him nudge down his scarf to kiss it instead of simply shaking it. Before she could think too hard about it, the strange robot had knelt down to greet Rush, too.

                Roll stepped closer to her brother, lowering her voice so the stranger couldn’t hear. “Something about him seems off to me,” she whispered.

                “I know what you mean,” Mega Man replied. “But he doesn’t act like any of Wily’s scumbots. Doc said to give him the benefit of the doubt, so…”

                Speaking of which, as Oil Man turned to properly speak to him, Dr. Light opened his mouth first. “Oil Man, how long have you been activated? Who built you?”

                “’Bout a month ago,” he replied. “I was built by Dr. Umlauf. I work on oil rigs, offshore oil wells, stuff like that. The doc plans on officially introducing me to the public next week, since I’ve been performing without incident and he’s sure a certain somebody won’t try stealin’ and reprogrammin’ me.”

                Dr. Light smiled. “It’s good to hear that at least one robot master out there is doing the job he was built to do. It is truly a shame that other roboticists have to live in fear of losing their robots to Wily.”

                Oil Man waved a hand. “I really admire you and the twins for stoppin’ him all the time, it’s gotta be tiring!”

                Mega Man had heard this praise before, from thankful humans immediately after whatever plot Wily had devised that week. Even worker robots sometimes got to thank him for his work—but hearing it from a robot master must have been novel to him, because he found himself a little eased by the sentiment.

                “It’s all in a day’s work,” Mega Man said. “So why are you here, Oil Man?”

                Oil Man turned back to the hero, hesitating before speaking. “To be honest,” he said, “I need your help.”

 

 

“It was YOUR fault this time, Ice Man! Not mine! You’re always the one screwing up, letting Mega Man take your ice power! Not to mention that time he tricked you into turning against us.”

                “No way, Airhead! He keeps knocking you down like a house of cards! If you weren’t such a blowhard, maybe you’d stop getting in my way when I get close to beating him!”

                Another failed plan, another argument. This wasn’t rare, especially in a “home” as volatile and unfriendly as Skull Fortress. The only room in the whole place that was vaguely clean and undamaged was Dr. Wily’s lab; everywhere else was scarred by old fights, a new one breaking out once in a while. New robots had to get used to it fast, and the old ones were either trying too hard to play alpha-bot or were just so burnt out by it all that they waited to be called out to deal with any of the nonsense. Case in point to the former, there was Air Man and Ice Man, who could never get along for any reason.

Proto Man brought the energy can to his lips again, only barely trying to disguise the amusement on his face. Guts Man and Cut Man were both to his left, grumbling and talking between themselves about something or other. Honestly, Proto Man didn’t care to pay attention when high-quality entertainment was in front of him, from the others. In fact, somebody else had decided to pipe into Ice Man and Air Man’s argument.

                “Or maybe you’re _both_ incompetent,” Snake Man said. “If you two knew when to can it and focusss on Mega Man, maybe we wouldn’t conssstantly be in hot water with Dr. Wily!”

                “Oh, who are you to talk, Snake Man?” Air Man jabbed a finger into the slithering robot’s chest. “We’ve all seen you mess up time and time again! Like when you took over Mega Man’s body, only for him to steal it right back!”

                “Not to mention the Red Gulch incident,” Ice Man agreed.

                “That wasssn’t my fault!”

                Proto Man bit back a chuckle. He started to wonder if he shouldn’t have made some popcorn, because things were starting to get good.

                “If you want to sssee a complete failure, what about Bright Man and that power he can never use correctly? You’d think that moron would learn to sssmash Mega Man’s sssunglasses when he takesss them out, or get a pair of hisss own for when he uses hisss power againssst him!”

                “Hey, hey! Don’t you bring me into this!” Bright Man protested from the other side of the room, but he quickly approached the group to defend himself. “I’m nowhere near as bad as Bomb Man, who doesn’t even need Mega Man to copy his power to have it used against him! He just blows himself up!”

                On cue, Bomb Man turned his head, too. “You got something to say to me, bulb-head?”

                One by one, the Wilybots began to point fingers and blame each other for this failure and that, bringing up incident after incident. Most of it was redundant, but delivered with such conviction that Proto Man could almost have been convinced that this was the first time anyone had said it. Any robot with the misfortune to have just entered the room was quickly brought into it. What he wouldn’t have given to have a camcorder in his hands right now!

The rabble distracted Guts Man and Cut Man from their own conversation. Proto Man simply kept sipping his energy can and watching the show. Of course, the former two wouldn’t be left out for long.

                “No! No!” said an angry Elec Man. “You want to see somebody who fails all the time? Look no further than the guys who are involved in every plot!” He pointed at Guts Man and Cut Man—“Dr. Wily always uses them, but Guts Man is dumber than a brick wall and Cut Man can’t even handle Mega Man’s little sister without being toast! I think _they’re_ to blame!”

                Cut Man scowled at him dangerously. Guts Man stood up, marched over to Elec Man and pounded his fist into his palm to crack his knuckles. “Well, you know what _I_ think, Elec Man?”

                “You don’t think,” he responded plainly.

                “I think you’re the dumb one, to say that to my face and not expect to get punched!”

                From Guts Man’s fierce blow to Elec Man’s chest, knocking the electrical robot across the room and embedding him into the wall, words went right out the window for the whole group.

                Bombs, punches, ammunition of all kinds, ice, fire, and everything else that the robots under Wily’s command had at their disposal were thrown about in the chaos. Fists met faces. Boots met stomachs. Proto Man threw his head back in laughter. He couldn’t help himself, even though he was easily within line of fire for many of the robots fighting. He didn’t care. He hadn’t seen something this funny in a _while_.

                “Wait, wait!” Cut Man called above the chaos. “Do you all want to know the real culprit behind Mega Man beating us all?”

                Proto Man started to take one last sip of his energy can.

                The others followed his finger to the one robot who wasn’t fighting. “Look no further than his ‘better-than-thou’ big brother!”

                He choked on his drink.

                “Hey, yeah, yeah!” Guts Man dropped Quick Man and Shadow Man to also point fingers at him. “Not only is he involved in every plan, too, but he keeps _helping_ Mega Man! Like that time when he told Mega Man about the scrambler chip that he planted on him!”

                “Not to mention when everyone knew Mega Man had gotten hisss body back, he told everyone to _hold their fire_ so he could break Cut Man’sss weapon!” Snake Man piped in.

                “I bet he only _pretends_ to get stunned by my Flash Stopper! He’s wearing shades all the time, like he’s too cool for the rest of us—I bet it doesn’t really affect him at all!”

                Every word irked Proto Man more and more, as he wiped energy drink from his mouth. He was seething down to his servos, but he couldn’t get up and leave—much less raise his buster to join in the fighting. How was he supposed to be superior to the moronic rabble if he was just like them? He had to be better, he had to be smarter. He had to be…

                “Hey, has anyone ever really _seen_ Proto Man hit Mega Man while shooting at him?” Dark Man added. “I can only think of twice off the top of my processor when he so much as grazed him!” The others joined in the chorus of criticisms.

                “I bet he misses on purpose!”

                “And falls for Mega Man’s tricks!”

                “He even keeps saving him with the excuse that he wants to be the one to defeat Mega Man, but he never does!”

                “Why do you think he keeps offering Mega Man to come with us instead of just capturing him for Dr. Wily? Or better yet, _destroying him_ like he keeps saying he wants to?” Cut Man said. “Deep down, he’s soft on his _precious baby brother_!”

                Proto Man crushed the can in his hands, gritting his teeth. He stood up sharply and threw it aside, activating his buster. He knew he was being baited—all eyes were on him now, accusatory, angry and/or smug. If they could see his eyes under his shades, they wouldn’t have been so brave. Logically, he knew he shouldn’t have let their words get to him. Then again, who in the entirety of Skull Fortress had _ever_ used logic?

                “What do you morons know?” he snapped. “You think I can’t take my little brother?”

                “We _know_ you can’t,” Ice Man quipped with a smirk on his face.

                “Then I’ll prove it to you.” Proto Man put on a determined stance. “I’ll prove I’m not soft! I’m not letting him do anything on purpose! I’m Proto Man, the strongest robot there is! I’ll bring him back here, broken and offline, and prove that I’m not going easy on him just because he’s my brother!”

                With that, he stormed out of the room and the fortress.

 

 

                “So what kind of help was it that you wanted, Oil Man?”

                The discussion had been postponed by a minor distress call, during which time Dr. Light had already spoken with Oil Man about what it was he wanted. However, when Mega Man and Roll returned, Oil Man insisted on filling them in on the problem himself. The new robot was sitting backwards on a chair, while the twins stood across from him.

                “I need help getting parts,” Oil Man began, “For my younger brother.”

                “Your younger brother?”

                Oil Man produced a copy of robot blueprints, depicting another robot. This one was structure more like Mega Man himself, or even Elec Man—the robot had a helmet with bells on either side of it, a giant clock on his chest and complex internal structures.

                “His name is Time Man,” Oil Man explained. “He hasn’t been built yet. He’s a highly experimental robot master, meant to manipulate the fabric of time.”

                “A remarkable project to be certain,” Dr. Light said. “I’ve looked over those blueprints myself. Theoretically, Time Man could slow down time.”

                “Wow.” Mega Man looked back at Oil Man. “So why hasn’t Dr. Umlauf built him yet?”

                “’Cause his parts were stolen.” Oil Man’s tone turned serious, and he rolled his brother’s blueprints back up. “They’re well-guarded in three different locations around the country. One of ‘em’s right here in the city. The other two are in Los Angeles and California respectively. If I can get those parts back to the doc, he’ll build my brother.”

                “It’s sweet that he’s so special to you,” Roll commented. “Even though he’s not around yet.”

                Oil Man put the blueprints away, as careful with them as if they were his own. “I’m sure you and Mega get why—you two work well together, y’know? I’ve seen you two battle side-by-side, on the news whenever Wily’s around. A guy can’t help but want that, too.”

                For a moment, Mega Man wondered if Proto Man ever felt that way. He shook off the thought quickly, inwardly grimacing before continuing the conversation.

                “So you know where the parts are—you just need help busting in and taking them back?”

                Oil Man nodded. “That’s right. That’s why I want you to help me—I’m not so sure I could manage taking ‘em back myself on my own. I’ve never done something like it before. But you—I know you’ve got that kind of experience whenever you have to deal with Wily.”

                The robot showed him another paper—a map, with three different locations marked on it. Presumably, the locations where the stolen parts were. “These three places got what I need. Should start with the one here in New York, head down to LA, stop over somewhere for the night and then finish in California tomorrow. That sound right to you, Mega?”

                Mega Man analyzed the map for himself. Something felt familiar about that position in California—worriedly familiar. In fact, wasn’t that the location of Brain Bot’s lab? But Oil Man must have been telling the truth about Time Man, given the blueprints. Dr. Light had even said they were legit. But if Oil Man was trying to steer them wrong…

                He wasn’t so sure about this. “I don’t know,” Mega Man admitted. “I…”

                “I’ll come too,” Roll offered. “I bet you boys could use my—!”

                “Well, hang on, Roll,” Oil Man interjected. “I’d love to have you help me out too, but what if Wily tries something while Mega’s off helpin’ me? I don’t wanna leave the people undefended.”

                She paused. Mega couldn’t help but find that suspicious—hadn’t Oil Man just said that he and Roll worked great together? Then again… he also had a good point about Wily. It was confusing, how much he wanted to trust this robot versus his own paranoia. Maybe he was still reeling from that whole incident when Proto Man had pretended to turn good…

                He couldn’t help but hate it, how much his older brother had built his hopes up just to break them down again. He got sick of fighting him, sometimes. Toyed with the idea of if Proto Man’s turnaround had been for real, and if they really could have been brothers in arms instead of brothers at war. The ruse had been so good, Mega Man had almost thought he’d heard sincerity in his rival’s voice. But every time, he remembered that smug smirk, the pain that had shot through his systems thanks to the scrambler chip. It hadn’t hurt nearly as much as the betrayal. The whole thing really messed with his sense of trust, and Roll—being the loyal younger sister she was—was a good anchor for him.

                He looked to her, waiting for her answer. She must have noticed his unease, because she didn’t answer Oil Man immediately.

                “Could you excuse Mega and I for a second?” she requested, taking her brother’s arm to drag him aside.

                They stepped into the next room. Roll’s eyes locked onto her brother’s, with a confidence even the blue hero felt he lacked sometimes.

                “Something’s up with you, and I think it’s more than what Oil Man’s been saying.” She was blunt, to the point. She was good at that.

                “I mean—“ Mega Man sighed. “I want to trust him, Roll, but I’m not sure. Do you think he means it when he says he wants to help his little brother be built?”

                “Trust me, he’s for real.”

                Her brother blinked. She hadn’t even hesitated! “Really? You’re sure?”

                Roll offered him a smile. “He has that same look in his eyes that you get sometimes when you’re worried about me. I think he’s serious, Mega.”

                Mega Man couldn’t help but smile too, now, a slight blush in his cheeks. As he thought, she was good at keeping him grounded when he got ahead of himself. Now he couldn’t help but wonder how he’d ever get by without her.

                Intuitive as ever yet again, she opened his arms and pulled him into a hug. He returned it happily. They didn’t linger long before parting and returning to the main room, Mega Man turning his attention to Oil Man with renewed certainty and determination.

                “You can count me in, Oil Man,” he said. “We’ll get those parts for your little brother. Roll and Dr. Light can take care of the city while I’m gone.”

                Oil Man was presumably grinning under his scarf. “Glad to hear it, Mega.”

                Dr. Light nodded. “I’ll have Eddie on stand-by in case you ever need an energy can. I suggest you head out soon, if you wish to get across the country in good time.”

                “Thanks, doc.”

                Oil Man walked over to offer help to Dr. Light for the preparations. Rush trotted over to the twins, looking between them with confusion. Were they really going along with this? They hadn’t even met Oil Man before today!

                “It’ll be alright, boy,” Mega Man assured his dog, petting behind his ears. “Getting those parts for Time Man will be no trouble at all.”

                Packing didn’t take long, nor did travel plans. Rush would be going with them, flying Mega Man and Oil Man from one place to the next. Roll would tune up her multi-tool system, so that she could handle any threat that came by the city for the next few days. With a duffel bag slung over his shoulder and his new friend by his side, Mega Man waved his family good-bye.

                “I’ll see you guys in a few days!” he said. “Come on, Rush, Oil Man—let’s go get back those parts!”


End file.
